PM announces support for Premier Tech Ltd.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced a repayable financial contribution to Premier Tech Ltd. which will create new products and jobs in the region by supporting the company’s innovation and commercialization efforts. He was accompanied by Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec.

“The Government of Canada is focused on creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity in all regions of the country,” stated the Prime Minister. “This investment will help create and preserve hundreds of science and technology jobs in Rivière-du-Loup while supporting the development and commercialization of innovative new products.”

Active in 19 countries, Premier Tech Ltd. lends its expertise to the development of peat-based products and growing media in three main sectors: horticulture and agriculture; manufacturing packaging and materials-handling equipment; and water treatment.

The repayable financial contribution given to Premier Tech Ltd. was granted under the Canada Economic Development’s Quebec Economic Development Program.and will be paid out over three years beginning in financial year 2012-13. This funding will enable Premier Tech Ltd. to develop and market some 60 new products from its four subsidiaries, while having a positive impact on the environment. All of this will generate major economic spinoffs in the Rivière-du-Loup area, as well as in the municipalities where the company is also present: La Pocatière, Joliette, Lachenaie, Drummondville and Pointe-Lebel.